Of the 1305 companies targeted by Carbon Action, 63% of companies responded to CDP in 2016

US$25 trillion investor group engaging with over 1,305 companies led by CDP

522 million tonnes of CO2e was saved due to projects implemented in 2015

Carbon Action brings together an influential group of 329 investors now with US$25 trillion in assets - up from US$6.7 trillion and 35 investors at launch in 2011. Through to 2016 the group has asked companies to help tackle climate change in three ways: i) make emissions reductions; ii) publicly disclose emissions reduction targets; and iii) invest in emissions reduction projects with a positive return.

Carbon Action focusses on companies in energy intensive sectors including oil & gas, electric utilities, materials, mining & metals, transportation and consumer staples. This year the sample and the methodology has changed and now incorporates Scope 3 emissions as a factor in determining the sample of 1,305 companies. This has also led to the inclusion of influential media companies and financial institutions.

Results from the Carbon Action analysis are available in this infographic, key findings include:

Companies in Europe are response leaders with a response rate of 79% overall;

On average 85% of constituents in all sectors have an emissions reduction target except the energy sector with only 66% of companies setting targets;

Only 8%, or 62 companies, have absolute and or intensity targets covering 90-100% of their operations for scopes 1,2 and 3;

Based on information disclosed to CDP, carbon reducing projects, on average, have a 3-year return on investment and for every US$5 invested in such projects, one tonne of CO2e is saved;

Of the 1,305 companies within the sample, 160 (12%) have signed up to at least one of the nine corporate climate action initiatives run by coalition, We Mean Business;

In addition 15 companies within the Carbon Action sample have had their science-based-targets approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative

Helen Wildsmith, Strategic Advisor (Investor Perspective), CDP said:

"Carbon Action provides industrial scale action-oriented engagement for investors across the globe, saving them time for the intense collaborative engagement they undertake with a smaller number of key holdings. For 2017 the focus will evolve to include: highlighting the new strategic context provided by the Paris Agreement and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Dislcosure; and requesting that companies sign-up to the We Mean Business coalition’s agreed priority initiatives (inc Science Based targets for relevant sectors); while continuing to encourage emissions reductions, including via projects with positive returns. "

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Notes to editors

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CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, is an international, not-for-profit organization providing the global system for companies, cities, states and regions to measure, disclose, manage and share vital information on their environmental performance. CDP, voted number one climate research provider by investors, works with 827 institutional investors with assets of US$100 trillion and 89 purchasing organisations with a combined annual spend of over US$2.7 trillion, to motivate companies to disclose their impacts on the environment and natural resources and take action to reduce them. Some 5,800 companies, representing close to 60% global market capitalization, disclosed environmental information through CDP in 2016. CDP now holds the most comprehensive collection globally of primary corporate environmental data and puts these insights at the heart of strategic business, investment and policy decisions. Please follow us @CDP to find out more.